Stephane Dion

October 18, 2007

The above cartoon is the first draft to the original that was printed in The Hamilton Spectator. It was one of those cartoons that I thought I could safely draw even before the event took place. The going presumption was that there were just two unpalatable options before Stephane Dion in response to the Throne Speech. Several news agencies had sources saying that the Liberals in the House of Commons would opt to support the government rather than declaring non-confidence and subsequently pushing Canadians into a Federal election campaign.

It wasn’t until about 4:30 that Stephane Dion announced that the Liberals would propose amendments to Mr Harper’s agenda but, if they were rejected, his party would abstain from the confidence votes in the national interest. That’s not exactly a decaration of “confidence in Mr. Harper’s Conservative government.” So I had to do something about the chalk board scrawlings by humiliated boy Stephane just to be fair, (not that it’s necessary to be fair when editorial cartooning.)

If fairness is the strength of this cartoon, cheating may be its weakness. Through the magic of photoshop, I’ve banked images for future reuse. The classroom background is completely recycled from a cartoon I drew 2 years earlier:

…and funny enough it features Stephen Harper as opposition leader in the very same embarassing spot as Stephane Dion. The modification only had to be made in the content of the chalk writing.

…and as it turns out I was able to make the letters easier to read than the previous version. The only problem is that I jumped the gun before Dion’s decision was made and I sent the early version to my syndicate. Oh well. Here’s the final version:

Wednesday April 18, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 18, 2007

Dion eyeing the fringe of the battlefield

Stephane Dion’s decision to give Green Party leader Elizabeth May a pass in the riding of Central Nova in the next federal election has more to do with a war of attrition between the Liberals and the NDP than with the cause of the environment.

If that particular crusade was as central to their actions as the two leaders purport it to be, logic would dictate that Dion spend the next campaign aggressively wooing Green sympathizers rather than helping May raise the profile of her party at his potential expense.

In logic, it would be more natural for the Liberal leader to make the case that the quickest way to get back on the Kyoto track on climate change is to support a federal party that is both committed to that process and has a realistic chance of unseating the Conservatives.

Even in their wildest dreams, the Greens have little or no hope of electing even the minimal number of MPs (12) required to have official status in the House of Commons in the next election.

But in some closely fought ridings, they could help take out like-minded candidates — from both the NDP and the Liberals — by splitting the anti-Conservative vote.

On the face of it, that makes it hard to jibe May’s endorsement of Dion as her preferred choice for prime minister with the fact that her party will be running candidates against 100-plus Liberal incumbents in the next campaign. If that endorsement is as heartfelt as it sounded yesterday, she has now turned them into needless sacrificial lambs.

At the end of the day, the common interest of the Green and the Liberal parties in bringing down the NDP is as least as strong as their common concern for the environment.

For the Liberals, boosting the Green Party only makes sense if it results in the NDP taking a hit in the ballot box. That is what happened in a byelection in London, Ont., late last year.

The New Democrats were pushed back by the Greens while the Liberals held on to the seat with a comfortable majority.

Whether that scenario would actually repeat itself in a general election and in ridings where May is not the actual Green contender remains to be seen.

Still, by securing her blessing for Dion, the Liberals can hope that they have insulated themselves from Green inroads into their share of the vote in the next election.

For her part,  May, as the leader of an emerging party, clearly feels she needs a seat in the House of Commons and an inside track to overtake the NDP in the future more than she needs to score points against the Liberals.

But while May and Dion are teaming up to play checkers against Jack Layton, they may be creating new openings for Stephen Harper on the election chessboard. On that score, they may both have gotten ahead of themselves.

For years, the Liberals benefited from the war between various factions of the right. Those battles drove many moderate conservatives to their party.

But now it is the Conservatives who stand to benefit from the manoeuvres taking place among their progressive opponents.

That starts with Central Nova where, as of yesterday, the 10,000 voters who supported the Liberals in the 2006 election have been turned into political orphans.

Some of them will certainly take Dion’s cue and give May a hand in her bid to secure the first Green seat ever in Canada.

But inasmuch as a vote for the Greens remains a protest vote, many will be tempted to switch to more traditional options.

Dion’s decision not to run a candidate in Central Nova could end up boosting the Conservative vote. And May’s cosiness with the Liberals could actually firm up the NDP vote not only in that particular riding but also elsewhere in Canada.

MacKay, who won almost two votes for every Liberal one in 2006, need not necessarily ponder his retirement options just yet.

Regardless of the eventual fate of the minister of foreign affairs, the larger consequence of Dion’s move is to further engage the Liberal party in a three-way battle with the Bloc Quebecois, the NDP and the Greens for the anti-Conservative protest vote.

As Harper strives to advance his party further to the centre by making it more attractive to middle-of-the-road voters, Dion has his eye on the fringe of the battlefield.

It is hard not to think that his approach is awfully convenient for the Conservatives. – Chantal Hebert (Hamilton Spectator, A23, 4/14/2007)

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday, April 7, 2007 The Taming of the Queue Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he has fulfilled his pledge to establish medical wait-times guarantees across Canada, but critics say the deal falls short of his campaign promise. "Today I am very pleased to announce that Minister Clement has succeeded in his mission," Harper said at an Ottawa wait-times conference. "All 13 provinces and territories have now committed to providing the first patient wait-times guarantees." The creation of a wait-times guarantee was one of the Conservatives' five priorities in the last election campaign. But the deal does not come into effect until 2010, and provinces only have to promise timely treatment in one of several priority areas: Cancer care, Hip and knee replacement, Cardiac care, Diagnostic imaging and Cataract surgeries. The Conservatives had promised in the last federal election campaign that they would ensure guarantees in all of the above areas. In the federal budget released on March 19, $612 million was set aside for the provinces and Ottawa to pay for the initiative and $30 million was set aside for wait-times pilot projects. (Source: CTV News) http://www.ctvnews.ca/critics-say-wait-times-deal-falls-short-of-promise-1.235960 editorial cartoon, 2007, Stephen Harper, Canada, William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado about Nothing, Climate Change, Quebec, Stephane Dion, Danny Williams, literature, parody

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Taming of the Queue

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he has fulfilled his pledge to establish medical wait-times guarantees across Canada, but critics say the deal falls short of his campaign promise.

“Today I am very pleased to announce that Minister Clement has succeeded in his mission,” Harper said at an Ottawa wait-times conference.

“All 13 provinces and territories have now committed to providing the first patient wait-times guarantees.”

The creation of a wait-times guarantee was one of the Conservatives’ five priorities in the last election campaign.

But the deal does not come into effect until 2010, and provinces only have to promise timely treatment in one of several priority areas: Cancer care, Hip and knee replacement, Cardiac care, Diagnostic imaging and Cataract surgeries.

The Conservatives had promised in the last federal election campaign that they would ensure guarantees in all of the above areas.

In the federal budget released on March 19, $612 million was set aside for the provinces and Ottawa to pay for the initiative and $30 million was set aside for wait-times pilot projects. (Source: CTV News)

 

April 4, 2007

Ask people for their opinions concerning those Conservative Party pre-election ads directed against Stephane Dion and the reaction you’ll receive is usually one of absolute disgust. Like someone has been forced to watch the worst kind of porn. Pure filth. “How low can the Tories go”, they’ll protest, or it’s “American style attack ads”, as a means to condemn the party while connecting it to that horrible neighbour to Canada’s south. “Is this where political decorum has fallen to in Canada”, people will rhetorically ask before they warn that, “it’s going to backfire on Harper.”

Please. The Dion ads were amusing, and they were hardly as offensive as some repulsive things we’re surrounded by in our everyday lives that ought to make people outraged. “Do you think it’s easy to make priorities“, the Liberal Leader famously whined. Apparently, you can download that quote off the Internet and program it as a cell phone ring.

To me it’s hard to condemn these so-called “attack ads” on politicians when it’s a cartoonist’s job to go after them daily in cartoons. Isn’t adversarial jousting supposed to be part of our Parliamentary system?

In my mind our political forums have two key ingredients:

a) the boring part — a forum for thoughtful intellectual debate (behind the scenes in committee rooms and on the floor of the legislatures which would send most people to sleep);

and,

b) the exciting part — a theatre which provides a verbal battleground for outwitting your adversary — be they put downs during Question Period, or commercials aimed against your adversary on tv in 20 second soundbites or newsclips.

I suppose there are limits to the art of playful chiding when it starts to look like bullying because the other side can’t/won’t play the wits game. The Libs think they’re taking the high road by not striking back, but instead they’re just looking like wimps. This weeks’ episode of This Hour Had 22 Minutes did a perfect parody ad of where the Liberals find themselves right now. The Liberal’s simply need to play the game.

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March 16, 2007

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Well, this cartoon might have had the shortest shelf life on record. This morning the Liberals launched its Green Plan.

Oh well.

Anyway, this is the first St. Patrick’s Day editorial cartoon I’ve ever drawn. With all the talk of green this and green that over the past 3 or 4 months I’ve been waiting for the arrival of this day to feature some politician dressed up as a leprechaun. This is the second time within 6 months… the last (and probably first ever leprechaun I’ve drawn since probably grade 4) was in this cartoon related to Toronto’s Simcoe Day.

Many people think that because I’ve got a pretty celtic name… my middle name is Patrick, by the way, I’m one of those Celtic-philes. Especially one of those North American ‘celts’ who try hard to understand their heritage by scoffing at the notion of green beer and acting like they really enjoy stout beer… and not necessarily Guiness, but one of those micro brewed Irish stouts. Scottish wannabes will act like haggis is the greatest delicacy on Earth. And of course extreme Celtic-philes will listen to obscure celtic music and set aside time on Saturday mornings to watch television highlights of British and Irish soccer… I mean, football. Every few years they’ll go over to the old country and wander around cemetaries looking for long lost relatives just to assure themselves that their backgrounds go beyond their large suburban garage doors in Blandville, North America.

I’ve been to both Scotland and Ireland on a couple of occasions. I lived in London for nearly two years in the 1990’s. I was one of those Celtic-philes, and my life in the U.K. gave me enough exposure to the ways of life over there that I’m more than happy to be back here. I think it was the aftermath of downing 7 pints of Guiness in a row at that St Patrick’s night party at the Irish Club in Sloane Square 14 years ago when I realized Celticmania wasn’t all the ‘craic’ I had been lead to believe.

My grandfather, the MacKay one, emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1885. That’s 1885. He’d be 129 if he were still alive. Needless to say I’m pretty far removed from the Celtic world. So if we ever bump into each other in person don’t be surprised when you don’t see me in a gaelic kilt and speaking with a heavy Scottish brogue.